Local News

Blizzard: No major issues in Morgan County

Highways were closed, but Red Cross set up shelters for stranded travelers

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
03/24/2016 10:11:29 PM MDT

The slide-off of this semi-truck was only one such occurrence on highways and roads in Morgan County during the blizzard Wednesday, March 23, 2016, which had high winds and whiteout conditions due to blowing and drifting snow. The Colorado Department of Transportation wound up closing Interstate 76 and most state highways in northeast Colorado over the course of the storm. (Morgan County Sheriff's Office/ Courtesy photo)

Brush Middle School played host to at least 122 people seeking shelter from the blizzard Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The American Red Cross set up the shelter, along with another one initially set up at Fort Morgan High School but closed due to not very many people showing up there. (Morgan County Sheriff's Office / Courtesy photo)

Morgan County weathered the spring blizzard quite well on Wednesday, with no reports of loss of life or major injuries, according to Morgan County Commissioner Jim Zwetzig, as well as officials from the various municipalities.

Travelers

Travelers on the highways and Interstate 76 may have had it the worst Wednesday, as the Colorado Department of Transportation wound up shutting down most northeast Colorado highways and interstates at one point or another Wednesday during the blizzard.

People who found themselves stuck in Fort Morgan or Brush filled the area's hotel and motel rooms, but the Northern Colorado American Red Cross was able to set up shelters first at Fort Morgan High School and at Brush Middle School.

The city of Fort Morgan cleared the parking lot at FMHS and had it ready to go as a shelter, according to both Zwetzig and Fort Morgan Engineering/Public Works Director Brad Curtis.

Zwetzig said the Fort Morgan workers "had done an excellent and expedited job before we could get over there."

However, while the turnout at FMHS for shelter was not very high, there were lots of stranded motorists seeking shelter in Brush.

The city of Brush and Brush School District initially set up the shelter at Brush Middle School, and then about 8 p.m. the city coordinated with the Red Cross to move those at FMHS to Brush, according to Brush City Administrator Monty Torres.

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"Brad Taylor and his volunteers from the American Red Cross set up shop at the BMS, and dozens of cots and blankets were brought in," the Morgan County Sheriff's Office reported on its Facebook page.

Overall, there were at least 122 people who sought overnight shelter from the blizzard between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, according to Melody Storgaard, public information officer for Northern Colorado American Red Cross, and there were no problems over the course of the night.

Some of those stranded travellers were coming from a 12-car pileup east of Brush Wednesday afternoon, according to Morgan County Sheriff's Office. They were helped into town by Ken Mooney and two County Express drivers.

Many different entities provided volunteers, supplies and support at the shelter, including the Morgan County Sheriff's Office, Brush Police Department, Brush Volunteer Fire Department, Brush Area Chamber of Commerce and lots more.

The volunteers reported that people at the shelter were fed with donated food from Hunts Brothers Pizza and Pizza Hut in Brush, according to Storgaard.

"Everyone left this morning, and they were able to get back on the road," she said.

The blizzard rages Wednesday, March 23, 2016, in central Fort Morgan. In many places, the high winds made it hard to see even across the street. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

The Morgan County Sheriff's Office offered "kudos" for everyone who helped put a shelter "into place for people stranded by the multiple highway closures yesterday."

Two other entities that had a long night during the blizzard were Morgan County Rural Electric Association linemen and Morgan County Road and Bridge crews.

MCREA

The MCREA customers of Morgan County Rural Electric Association, many of who were without power for about a day.

However, the MCREA linemen worked all through the night to get the power restored, according to Geoff Baumgartner, MCREA communications specialist.

As of Thursday morning, power had been restored to nearly all customers, he told the Fort Morgan Times Thursday afternoon.

He offered "a big thank you to our linemen for working around the clock to get the power back on," as well as thanking the customers who lost power for their patience.

The power association posted updates on its Facebook page throughout the storm, keeping people aware of what was happening.

Morgan County

Similarly, Morgan County Road and Bridge workers had long hours as they tried to make it so that people could get where they were going safely, and that those who stayed put to wait out the storm could get home today, according to Zwetzig, who offered "big kudos" to the county workers.

"There were far more people out than should have been, but we always have those who will attempt to make it through," Zwetzig said. "There were some rescues, but not as many as other areas saw. There were some people stranded, but there was no loss of life or injuries. Just a lot of slide-offs and vehicles stranded."

He cautioned that the county is not truly finished with dealing with the blizzard.

"We still have work to do," he said Thursday. "We had some unique situations, but this was a unique storm.

Zwetzig warned that there may be some drainage issues as everything melts, but overall the county came out OK.

"Everybody did their part, like we've come to expect and probably take for granted," he said. "The storm's always the winner, but we fight back."

Fort Morgan

The city of Fort Morgan did not have any power outages, thanks to "the amazing efforts of our electric department," Curtis said.

And Fort Morgan had its city crews out plowing as they could, but the high winds prevented that at times during the blizzard, according to Curtis. Otherwise, it was "routine clearing of streets."

He said he did not expect any major issues with flooding or draining from the melting snow, only what would be normal after a big snow storm.

Curtis thanked city residents for their patience and understanding during the storm and cleaning up after it.

The Fort Morgan Police Department did respond to "several minor accidents in town, none major," according to City Clerk/Public Information Officer John Brennan.

"It is my understanding that conditions were significantly worse outside the city during the height of the blizzard, and even in the city visibility was essentially zero for some time," he said Thursday afternoon. "The beauty part of spring storms is how quickly the snow melts. I am looking at dry patches of Main Street, which is hard to believe given how deep and heavy it was less than 24 hours ago."

Brush

The city of Brush did not have many issues during the storm, according to Torres, with city crews working about 12 hours and getting the roads cleared.

He did not report any power outages or other big issues, beyond the many travelers who were getting stranded but were able to seek shelter at Brush Middle School.

But Torres pointed to the collaboration between so many different entities from Brush and Morgan County in making that shelter what it was — a safe place for people caught in the storm.

Wiggins

Wiggins also weathered the storm quite well, according to Town Administrator Paul Larino, who called the storm "uneventful" in Wiggins.

"Considering the amount of snow that came down, we did all right," he said Thursday. "The town's people were prepared, and they stayed home and bunkered down."

The Wiggins Public Works crews were out, and the town's roads were cleared by Thursday afternoon.

The power, which is provided by MCREA, stayed on in the town, Larino said.

"We fared well," he said, adding that many people were "excited to have this nice wet snow to help the farmers out."

Log Lane Village

In Log Lane Village, the blizzard brought "just a lot of snow" and no real problems, according to Town Clerk Kim Alva.

The town office closed at noon Wednesday so that the workers could get home safely, and Maintenance Supervisor James Wessels plowed streets until 7 p.m. Wednesday and then finished Thursday morning with what little had not yet melted.

"It's been melting so fast," Alva said.

Morgan County Sheriff's Office

Morgan County Sheriff Jim Crone shared on his office's Facebook page what the storm was like for him and his deputies:

"Our day included: Rescuing stranded motorists and giving them a ride home or helping dig or tow them out of snowdrifts; trying to slow traffic down at scenes of crashes or stalled cars and jumping out of the way of cars and trucks whose drivers somehow failed to notice the ice, snow or zero visibility but still managed to keep that speedometer as close to the speed limit as possible; Reuniting those 'crazy kids' back with their momma cows after they wandered away to romp and play in the snow until they couldn't remember how to get back home; giving road closure updates and/or directions to untold numbers of motorists; driving roads looking for stranded motorists while looking for any telltale signs we were still on a road and not driving through a wheat field; talking to people in the shelters and watching ourselves as we tried to unfold those Red Cross folding cots — surprised several of us didn't leave fingers on the gym floor (we are scheduling the two-day training class 'Cot, Folding 101' for all staff later this year); trying to keep the throngs of people who felt the barricades and 'ROAD CLOSED' signs did not apply to them; sadly some just barreled right through them; we will just have to accept that their karma will come and we likely will never get to revel in being there to see it."

Crone shared his "appreciation to those people who really tried not to be part of the problem, but Mother Nature had other plans. Yet they were grateful for the help or threw in the towel so as not to cause bigger problems."

He also stated, "We're grateful none of our law enforcement, fire or EMS folks were hurt (not that a few people's behavior didn't make an effort otherwise) and we're thankful no one suffered serious injuries during all of the events."

Crone also offered "thanks to the many people who helped their neighbors, from near or far, get out of the ditch, the snowdrift, or out of the storm (including ourselves a few times!)," as well as to "our Road and Bridge and CDOT crews who got out there and really hit the drifts (literally) to get the roads at least passable for all of us."

Overall, it was a blizzard, but Morgan County came out of it OK, based on what the local officials had to say the next day.

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